XXX 
BRER RABBIT AND HIS FAMOUS FOOT 
The little boy was very glad, one night shortly after he had 
heard about Daddy Jack’s ghosts and witches and ’Tildy’s 
“ha’nts,” to find Uncle Remus alone in his cabin. The child liked 
to have his venerable partner all to himself. Uncle Remus was 
engaged in hunting for tobacco crumbs with which to fill his pipe, 
and in turning his pockets a rabbit foot dropped upon the hearth. 
“Grab it, honey!” he exclaimed. “Snatch it up off’n de h’a’th. 
In de name er goodness, don’t let it git in de embers; ’kaze ef dat 
ar rabbit foot git singe, I’m a goner, sho’! ” 
It was the hind foot of a rabbit, and a very large one at that, 
and the little boy examined it curiously. He was in thorough 
sympathy with all the superstitions of the negroes, and to him 
the rabbit foot appeared to be an uncanny affair. He placed it 
carefully on Uncle Remus’s knee, and after the pipe had been 
filled, he asked: — 
“What do you carry that for. Uncle Remus?” 
“Well, honey,” responded the old man, grimly, “ef you want 
me ter make shorts out’n a mighty long tale, dat rabbit foot is 
fer ter keep off boogers. W’en I hatter run er’n’s fer myse’f all 
times er night, en take nigh cuts thoo de woods, en ’cross by de 
buryin’-groun’, hits monst’us handy fer ter have dat ar rabbit 
foot. Keep yo’ head studdy, now; mine yo’ eye; I ain’t sayin’ 
deyer any boogers anywhars. Brer Jack kin say w’at he mineter; 
I ain’t sayin’ nothin’. But yit, ef dey wuz any, en dey come slink- 
in’ atter me, I let you know dey’d fine out terreckly dat de ole 
nigger heel’d wid rabbit foot. I ’ud hoi’ it up des dis a-way, en I 
boun’ you I’d shoo um off’n de face er de yeth. En I tell you 
141 
